The Avett Brothers ascend

The Concord trio rose from obscurity to balance on the brink of fame

Click for larger image • Seth Avett, center, waits backstage at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., with his bandmates: (from left) Joe Kwon, Bob Crawford and Scott Avett. The June 20 performance was sold out.

As the 45-foot, metallic-gray bus heads northwest on Interstate 76 through Pennsylvania, no one is lying or telling the truth. Sitting on a brown leather couch in the bus' back lounge, the older of the two Avett brothers, Scott, confesses he's holding something back. For all his honesty, working-class background and cackling laughs, he's not budging beyond ambiguity: "It's a big change. We're doing a big thing here. It's the biggest thing of our lives. It's huge. We're really honored ... but I can't go into details yet."

An hour later, Bob Crawford grins, as though he wears the full seal of the truth on his teeth. For six years, he's played stand-up bass in the Concord, N.C., trio that bears the last name of Scott and Seth Avett. Surely, Crawford knows the secret.

"Anything that takes a day-by-day commitment to development, you don't feel the change as much as the people do from the outside. For the past year, I've been saying that. But now it's undeniable," he says, pausing for an instant, as if resting on the precipice of the big news. "We're on a tour bus now. The change has smacked us in the face."

SIGHT
Watch an audio slide show featuring more of Derek Anderson's photographs taken over the past three years.

SOUND
Listen to our 13-track mixtape of The Avett Brothers' music, stretching from the band's 2000 debut to The Gleam II, released Tuesday on Ramseur Records.